


we got lost in translation

by fuhrelise



Series: whatever happened to the teenage dream [2]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: 90's Music, Banter, F/F, First Dates, First Kiss, Flirting, Homophobic Language, dina be like in love noises, ellie finally grows a pair and starts flirting back, protective!ellie is best ellie idc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:40:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuhrelise/pseuds/fuhrelise
Summary: To no one’s — but also everyone’s — surprise, Dina is a marvelous dater.part 2 of the rugby AU.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: whatever happened to the teenage dream [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814926
Comments: 9
Kudos: 220





	we got lost in translation

**Author's Note:**

> y’all really ate the first ff up huh
> 
> thank you all for the amazing feedback i got on the first drabble i was so amazed to see so many people liking it
> 
> this is part two and it’s just dina taking stupid ellie on a date and having the time of their life
> 
> i actually had to split their date night into two parts cause it got too long, but the second half of this is almost done so it'll come out soon
> 
> TW: just one homophobic slur used (the d-slur) so proceed with caution

“Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck!” Ellie cursed loudly, running down the stairs.

“Language!” She heard Joel shout from the living room.

She came upon the old man on the couch as he flipped through a book.

“I forgot,” Ellie bit her lip “I completely forgot we had to go out to dinner with Tommy and Maria tonight.”

“You still have time to take a shower.”

“No, Joel, I’m going out tonight.”

“Ellie,” he sighed displeased, taking off his reading glasses and putting them on the arm rest. Ever since he had been in need of them, Ellie had restlessly teased him about his old age getting to him. The glasses made him look older than the usual, wrinkles tugging at the sides of his eyes and frown lines more prominent when he wore them. “We've been planning this night for weeks.”

“I know,” Ellie groaned. Her Uncle Tommy and Aunt Maria were usually quite busy, the pair of them juggling two jobs each, so it was a rare event that Ellie got to see them outside of school and that Joel got to see them at all. “I know and I’m sorry, but I can’t put it off.”

“Why not? You have a date or somethin’?”

“Um,” Ellie wished she could lie and say that she had an extracurricular activity for school but Joel would just laugh at her, knowing damn well Ellie could not do social events even if it killed her, “you could say that, yes.”

“With who? Abby?”

“What? God, no!” Ellie made a face when a very unsettling image of her and Abby together came to the forefront of her brain. “Why would you even suggest something like that?”

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” Joel wiggled his eyebrows and Ellie groaned disgusted.   
“Yeah, like she wants to detach my head from my body,” the girl scoffed, crossing her arms. “She literally tackled me to the ground yesterday.”

“You know what they say: if they tease you, they have a crush on you.”

“I don’t know from which prehistoric time period you come from where they taught you that but it is complete horseshit.”

Joel laughed and sat back on the couch, eyeing Ellie as though that would finally make her confess. “Then who?”

“Someone you don’t know,” Ellie said, fiddling nervously with her wrist watch. Joel had said his daughter Sarah had given it to him for his birthday before she passed. Curious little Ellie hadn’t known the meaning of emotional boundaries back then but Joel hadn’t minded handing it over to her once she got old enough.

“Is it one of the rugby players?” Joel pried.

“No.”

“A Mathlete?”

Ellie groaned dramatically and buried her face in her hands. “Can I please go? This is awkward.”

“You can’t go out unless you tell me who it is.”

“Fuck, Joel!” Ellie pleaded, embarrassment creeping hot and heavy on her cheeks. “C’mon.”

“Them’s the rules, so start tweeting, birdy.”

“It’s the student body president,” Ellie finally blurted out. “There, happy? Can we not talk about this anymore?”

Joel grinned satisfied and picked his book back up. “Yeah, I’ve embarrassed you enough.”

“You’re a dick,” Ellie bit back, marching upstairs to get ready.

Ellie didn’t know how dressing for dates worked. Even when she and Cat had dated, although briefly, she had never made the greatest of efforts to dress nicely since they mostly hung out at Cat’s place and made out or ordered take out. Bottom line was, Ellie had never gone on a proper date.

She dug through her closet hastily, realizing only then the never ending amount of short sleeved shirts and flannels she had accumulated in the past almost-four years since she had moved to Jackson. Some of these garments she had worn when she had been fourteen, but because of her slim body, she could still fit in most of them.

It was five minutes to eight when she finally decided on an outfit. She wore black jeans cuffed to her ankle, a plaid green shirt and a jeans jacket. The top half of her hair was tied back in a bun while the rest barely rested on her shoulders.

She looked at herself in the mirror and thought briefly about brushing her brows to hide the slit cutting through her right one, but knew it would do her no good. That lovely scar served as a reminder of when she had cut herself with broken glass when she was little.

A car honk from outside sent a wave of panic through Ellie. She had asked Dina not to come to the front door for fear of having to endure Joel’s many questions and another sex talk (the first time around had already been traumatizing enough).

“Okay, just calm down,” Ellie said to herself as she sauntered down stairs. “You’ll be fine. She likes you, you like her, it’ll be easy.” She slipped on her worn-out sneakers and laced them. “You’ve been with girls before. It’ll be a piece of cake.”

She pulled open the front door and shouted “I’m going out!” over her shoulder for Joel to hear.

She walked across her front yard and neared the parked car, against which was leaning Dina. Right then, Ellie realized that the pep talk she had given herself didn’t do squat shit now that Dina was standing right in front of her, dressed in black jeans, combat boots and her signature red hunting jacket that Ellie loved so much.

Fuck easy peasy lemon squeezy, this shit just turned into hard hard lemon hard.

Dina smiled softly and a surge of a thousand volts shocked Ellie to the tip of her fingers. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Ellie breathed.

Dina made no effort to hide the way her eyes traveled down and then back up Ellie. “You look good.”

“I’m just wearing what I usually wear.”

“I wasn’t talking about the clothes,” Dina retorted and Ellie wondered if human beings could disintegrate into meaningless puddles when being looked at like that.

“Shall we?” Dina asked, stepping aside to pull open the passenger’s door. Ellie climbed inside. 

“Sweet ride,” She complimented, observing the green Jeep.

“Thanks, it’s my dad’s.”

Dina started the car and pulled out of the driveway, down the intricately short and winding roads of Jackson.

Ellie stared outside her window for a few minutes, watching the yellow lights of the houses and the lampposts in the dark winter afternoon. “So where are we going exactly?” 

“Oh, you’ll see. I think you’re going to like it.”

“Is food included in the package?”

“It is.”

“So is holding your hand I hope,” Ellie had no idea when she had suddenly felt bold enough to make that remark, but figured it had been worth it to see Dina be caught off guard and her cheeks reddening.

“If you want it to be,” the girl replied, grinning softly. “Gonna cost you extra though.”

“I’ll pay that plus interest.”

“Don’t use financial terms to flirt with me, weirdo.”

“Flirting, was I?”

“Shut up and hold my hand, stupid,” Dina rolled her eyes and put out her open palm. Ellie hesitated and then reached out and interlaced their fingers together. She had to stop herself from relaxing, feeling how warm Dina’s hand was compared to hers. She remembered once, a few years back, her hands were freezing cold and Dina had held them for her until they had warmed. Ellie hadn’t understood the gesture’s meaning back then, but now that she did she wish she could go back in time and slap fourteen-year-old Ellie.

They sat in silence, their hands resting intertwined between them on the dashboard. After an eternity, Dina had let go of her hand. When Ellie turned to frown at her, she simply smiled and let her hand rest on the inside of Ellie’s thigh, thumb rubbing lazily against the inside of her knee. It was the same knee that had hurt the previous day, and it still sort of hurt, but the sudden contact made the heat from Dina’s hand bleed through the jeans and onto Ellie’s skin.

Ellie swallowed hard, trying to not let it phaze her, but judging by Dina’s shit-eating grin, she knew exactly what she was doing to her.  _ Fucking Dina, _ Ellie thought.  _ She’s going to be the death of me. _

“There is just no way.”

“Oh sure there is.”

Dina laughed at Ellie’s surprised face as she started up at the diner they were currently standing in front of. It was small and outside a big sign that read ‘ThrowBacks’ in glowing neon letters towered above the two women.

They walked inside and Ellie could do nothing but gape more as they passed the threshold. The diner was nineties’ themed, with cushioned seats surrounding round tables, a checkered pavement beneath her feet and juke boxes along with similar-themed objects lining the walls. In the far corner of the diner there was even a natural sized Elvis statue. All the tables were placed against the walls and in the center was a nicely lit dance floor. A deejay was blasting appropriate music to set the mood. ‘Stayin’ Alive’ was making the people on the dance floor go nuts as they danced shamelessly to the choreography of the song.

“This place is sick, dude,” Ellie said, grinning ear to ear.

“‘This place is sick’?” Dina raised a brow at her and squeezed her hand lightly, which she had held the entire car ride. “I know this is a nineties’ themed restaurant but c’mon.”

“Shut up.”

A waitress approached the two girls and Dina said “A table for two, please.”

The waitress led them to a small table near the corner where the Elvis statue was, left them the menus and walked away.

“I can’t believe you found something this cool and brought me to it,” Ellie said, unable to contain her excitement.

“Yeah, I’m good like that,” Dina said, sitting back as she looked through the menu.

“Modest much?”

Dina shrugged. The waitress came back soon after and asked what they wanted to order. Ellie was about to say something when Dina put a hand out to stop her.

“I got it. I’ll have a burger and a vanilla milkshake and the lady’s gonna have a steak and a vanilla Coke.”

When the lady left with their orders, Ellie’s eyebrows hit the ceiling. “Holy shit, you watched Pulp Fiction.”

Dina beamed. “After you shouted at me that I should watch it? Yeah, I did.”

“It wasn’t shouting,” Ellie mumbled “it was suggesting in a very loud voice and I just happened to be near your ear.”

“Uh huh,” Dina rolled her eyes. “That reminds me, you have to pay for my ear doctors’ appointment.”

Ellie laughed and felt vulnerable at the way Dina’s eyes gleamed. She had been looking at her like that all night and Ellie was another look away from reaching across the table, grabbing her by the collar of her jacket (that made her look stupidly hot, by the way) and kissing her. “It was worth it, though, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Dina agreed. “I watched all of Tarantino’s movies and I loved them all. Kill Bill had to be my absolute favorite.”

“I love Kill Bill too, but Pulp Fiction is my number one. Joel’s favorite is The Hateful Eight.”

“Your dad, right?”

“Adoptive dad, but yeah.”

Dina knew as much as Jesse did when it came to Ellie’s home situation, which was more than most people knew. Her parents had died when she was a kid and she had immediately been put into foster care. She went from foster home to foster home but no parent had ever had the guts to adopt her, especially not after she had severed her fingers. Joel had been the one to sign the papers when she had turned ten. They understood each other, despite them being both hot headed and stubborn as hell. Barely a year of foster care spent with him and Ellie fell in love with him as did he with her.

“He’s the one who introduced me to these movies,” Ellie explained, recalling weekend nights being the best time to turn on the tv and watch something with Joel on the couch, a box of pizza being their trustworthy companion. “Some people say they’re too old to be entertaining but I think they’re kinda neat.”

The waitress returned and gave them their food, which they both enjoyed in silence. Ellie would catch Dina looking at her only for the other girl to look away embarrassed. Ellie had always had this prejudice of Dina being extremely bold and confident, that nothing scared her. That night, she was slowly realizing Ellie had as much of an impact on Dina as she did on her. Dina kept looking at her and then looking away and it made Ellie feel a whole lot better that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous.

“How cheesy would it be if we split the milkshake with two straws?” Dina asked, wiping her mouth after she swallowed the last bite of her burger.

“Super cheesy and I’m not that kind of girl. I don’t like milkshakes.”

Dina shook her head. “You were wrong.  _ You  _ are the infuriating one.”

Ellie opened her mouth to retaliate but the first notes of ‘Take On Me’ started playing over the speakers. She stopped to turn her head and listen. “I love this song.”

“Me too,” Dina stood and put out her hand. “Come on, let's dance.”

Ellie smiled and let Dina drag her away from their table, purple and blue lights coloring the dance floor as they gently swayed along, Ellie’s hands on Dina’s hips and Dina’s hands around Ellie’s neck.

“This is the guitar cover,” Ellie said, trying to distract herself by the never-ending abyss that was Dina’s dark eyes. “The original is much faster.”

“You play the guitar, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Did Joel teach you?” Dina’s features reflected the flashing colored lights of the dancefloor. Ellie could barely concentrate and, as if f that wasn’t distracting enough, she was trying really hard not to mind at how Dina was softly playing with the tufts of her hair at the base of her neck

“Yeah,” Ellie said, holding back a shudder “he’s really good at it. He can do a lot of cool accords and stuff.”

“Cool.” Dina had been staring at her mouth the whole time she had spoken. Ellie licked her lips, earning a small gasp from Dina and felt the butterflies in her stomach rattle in their locked cage. Suddenly, the feeling changed from excitement to dread. Something was wrong. Looking out of the corner of her eye, Ellie spied an elderly man with a white beard glaring directly at the two girls.

“Why is that creepy guy staring at us?”

Dina followed her gaze. “Maybe he’s staring at you.”

“You think so? Hmm, not really my type.”

Dina giggled, infecting Ellie with the same laugh.

“Maybe he’s staring at someone behind us.”

Ellie realized they had moved closer to one another, her nose inches away from touching Dina’s. “Yeah, maybe,” she whispered.

Dina’s fingers rested on the back of Ellie’s neck, cupping it softly, as she tilted her face ever so slightly. Ellie let her, turning into jelly at her touch.

“Can I kiss you?” Dina whispered, low and husky and Ellie felt her legs almost give in underneath her. It was almost ridiculous for her to ask that question because Dina already knew the answer, if their inching closer to one another’s mouths was anything to go by.

Still, Ellie answered “Yes.”

Dina got on her toes and leaned in.

“Hey! You two!” A loud voice came from across the room, somehow louder than the music blasting through the speakers.

Ellie and Dina pulled away from one another and watched as the old man that had been spying them approached. The music’s volume had been lowered and the people who were dancing around them had stopped to see what all the commotion had been about.

“This is a family restaurant,” the man said, pointing a menacing finger at them. Ellie wanted nothing more than to reach over and bite it off but resolved in simply glaring at him. The implication in his voice was clear: this is a family restaurant  _ so stop your disgusting homosexual activities _ .

“Sorr-y,” Dina scoffed, dragging out the last syllable. She grabbed Ellie’s hand, giving her a look that clearly said ‘lets go’ and turned to walk past the man.

“Bring this shit elsewhere,” the man said, following them as the pair strode towards the exit door. Ellie set her jaw to stop herself from talking back.

“We’re going, leave us the fuck alone,” Dina said, gripping Ellie’s hand tighter when she saw her jaw clench.

“Don’t talk back to me, bitch,” the man spat, using his huge hand to push Dina’s shoulder. The girl tumbled forward but luckily managed to maintain her balance with Ellie’s grip on her hand.

“Don’t fucking touch her, dude!” Ellie shouted, turning on her heels and pushing the man. He lost his footing and fell back on a table. He looked up bewildered and frightened as Ellie charged him.

“Ellie, don’t,” Dina had lunged forward and grabbed Ellie by her arm, trying to get in the way before the brunette really hurt someone.

“Stay away from me, dyke!” The man shouted, putting his hands up to defend himself. He looked more terrified than he did angry, like he had been a few moments ago, and Ellie was pleased with the effect she was having on him.

“The fuck did you just say?” Ellie was just about to take another step forward when Dina got in her way, grabbing her arms. “Ellie, stop.”

“Ellie, look at me. Ellie!” The taller girl tried to fight back but Dina was stronger than she let on, her grip on Ellie’s biceps not faltering. She soon gave up trying to break free and instead looked at the shorter girl.

“You’re at a ten, I need you at a two,” Dina said apprehensively. “Lets just leave. Don’t listen to this shitstain.”

The staff and the other guests all stared at them wildly, as if Ellie and Dina had just walked in and started the fight themselves. The girls stopped shortly on the way out and Dina placed a twenty dollar bill in a waitress’ hand. “Keep the change.”

“Thanks for the fucking help, by the way,” Ellie said, but the waitress just looked at them shocked and didn’t speak.

“Lets go,” Dina said and, grabbing her arm, dragged Ellie outside before she could march back to the old man and lay one on him. As they walked through the parking lot, Ellie tried to guess which one was the old man’s car. All her money was on the one whose licence plate read “B33RK1NG69” and, had it not been for Dina’s firm grip on her bicep, she might’ve gone over and keyed it.

Once they reached the car, Dina let go of Ellie’s arm and Ellie took the opportunity to punch the light pole near the car. Pain jolted through her knuckles but it was worth the weight that it had lifted off her shoulders. “What a fucking piece of shit.”

She sighed heavily and rested her forehead against the cold metal, which felt great against her burning hot forehead. “You should’ve let me have a go at him.”

“He could’ve hurt you,” Dina said, leaning with arms crossed against the side of her vehicle.

“So what? I could’ve handled it.”

“So I don’t want you to have a broken nose for the rest of our date.”

Ellie sighed again, feeling guilty for talking to Dina that way. When she raised her head to apologise, Dina read her mind and simply smiled. Ellie smiled back, apologetically.

“Now what?” Dina exhaled, resting her head against the car.

“This was your whole night planned?”

“To be fair, there was supposed to be a kiss and more slow dancing before I drove you home and kissed you goodnight on your porch,” Dina defended.

“You talk a lot about kissing for someone who has yet to take action.”

Dina scoffed. “Okay, coward,” she took a few steps forward and Ellie stood up straight.

“Then why don’t you kiss me now?” Dina whispered, deliberately letting her breath fall on Ellie’s face, eyes darting between the taller girl’s parted lips and her green eyes.

Ellie felt her throat dry up as her nose brushed Dina’s. God, she wanted to kiss her so badly, but she couldn’t let her win this one. She surprised herself and Dina and took a step back. “You asked me out, you’re the one who’s supposed to be doing the kissing.”

“Oh yeah?” Dina raised her eyebrows at her “and what are you then?”

“I’m an innocent bystander.”

Dina punched Ellie’s shoulder and rolled her eyes. “God, I hate you.”

Ellie chuckled, crossing her arms across her chest. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. “Will you still hate me if I told you I could serenade you?”

Dina looked up and gave her a bemused smile, “I’m listening.”

The door clicked and Ellie pushed it open, falling past the threshold and into the darkness and emptiness of her home. She had texted Joel beforehand to warn him that she had brought her date home and received a very unpleasant text back about how he was going to get out of her hair and spend the night at Tommy’s. Ellie had insisted it wasn’t necessary because her date wasn’t going to spend the night but when Joel texted back a winky face and made Ellie become the bright red color of a stoplight, she decided not to argue.

Ellie flipped on the lights and shut the door behind them.

“Nice place,” Dina said, kicking off her shoes and pulling off her red jacket, revealing a long-sleeved grey shirt beneath it.

“Thanks,” Ellie said and looked away, embarrassed at how undressed Dina looked to her. She had seen her in button ups and t-shirts before, but that was at school or in any other public place. Now Dina was in her house.  _ Holy shit, Dina is in my house, _ Ellie panicked.  _ Dina and I are in my house alone. _ Ellie noticed the dip of Dina’s collarbone and started wondering if Joel hadn’t been right to lend the girls the house for the night.

“What’s your poison?” Ellie asked once they entered the kitchen. “It means ‘what do you want to drink’.” She explained when Dina raised a brow.

“I’ll take a beer, Travolta.”

“Let's make it two,” Ellie reached into the fridge, grabbed two beer bottles and uncapped them, handing one to Dina. “Cheers.”

“Cheers. To us.” They clinked their bottles and drank.

“Where’s your room then?” Dina asked, wiping her mouth. She followed Ellie upstairs and through the first door on their right. Ellie flipped the switch on and watched from the door as Dina walked around the room slowly, eyes and fingers tracing her bookshelves and bedside tables. Ellie liked the view from where she stood; Dina in her room. She looked like she belonged there. Ellie almost wished she could ask her to say forever.

Dina walked to the never-ending pile of CDs on Ellie’s desk and picked one up. “Big fan of the Oasis, huh?”

“You know them?”

“Yeah, I have a friend who listens to them all the time.”

“Who?”

Dina gave her knowing look and smiled. “Oh.” Ellie looked down mortified and Dina laughed.

“I didn’t know you paid so much attention to me,” Ellie said, digging her toes into the floor.

“Of course I pay attention,” Dina sat on Ellie’s bed and patted the spot beside her. Ellie joined her, feeling the bed dip beneath her weight.

“I’m not dumb, unlike Jesse who hasn’t even noticed you have two severed fingers,” she said motioning to Ellie’s left hand. Ellie raised her brows in shock. Not many people noticed her missing fingers, mostly because her left hand was usually either stuffed in her pocket or she wore the fake silicone fingers the doctor had given her. She had completely forgotten to wear them that night, she had been too busy choosing how to dress. She wished she could hit herself when she realized Dina had held her severed hand many times that night and she, Ellie, had been in too much of a haze to realize it earlier.

“Huh,” Ellie let her index brush over the scars. “Nice catch.”

“Seriously, dude’s known you for three years and still hasn’t realized you’re two fingers down,” Dina laughed awkwardly, hoping she hadn’t said something that made Ellie uncomfortable.

“In his defense, we don’t really hang out outside of rugby practice.”

“Yeah but still. I don’t see you that much and I still noticed,” Dina put out her hand and Ellie placed her palm into hers, letting Dina hold it gently between her fingers and caress the curve of her only remaining knuckles, a distant reminder of what used to be a ring finger and a pinky.

“Are you going to explain to me how you did this or are you keeping it a mystery?” Dina asked, inspecting the wound.   
Ellie shrugged. “It’s not a really interesting story.”

“I’m not expecting to hear one.”

Ellie hesitated. She didn’t like nor was she used to sharing this much about herself. Joel was the only person she spoke to about certain things and even then she didn’t tell him everything. Jesse was her best friend, if not her only, but even he only knew bits and pieces. She and Dina had only built a friendship through Jesse and even then it hadn’t been the strongest one, more for lack of trying than anything else. Ellie mostly only saw Dina when Jesse was also around, otherwise Ellie and Dina had hung out on their own very few times and, despite her crushing (big time crushing) on Dina, Ellie didn’t think they had the kind of bond where she could tell her about these things.

Dina was looking at her patiently, big brown doe eyes, and Ellie felt herself lose control of her mouth.

“I had a foster parent who loved going to gun conventions,” she started “like those who do long-distance shooting and stuff, and he thought it would be a genius idea to bring a six year old along. Long story short, I dropped a loaded gun on the floor, it fired and the rest is history.”

Dina sucked her teeth and sharply pulled her fingers away from the scars. “Jesus Christ. Does it bother you if I touch them?”

“No. Actually, it feels better,” Ellie urged her, missing the soothing pattern Dina had been tracing over the cauterized wounds.

“Well, at least a good thing came out of this,” Dina said after a while.

Ellie raised her eyebrows. “Which is?”

“At least the important fingers are still intact,” Dina held up her index and middle finger, grinning.

Ellie pushed her away and Dina laughed. “You are un-fucking-believable.”

“Yeah, I try,” Dina shrugged. “I thought you promised to serenade me.”

“Sure. Hold on,” Ellie grabbed her guitar from where it was leaning against the wall. It had been Joel’s but he gifted it to her once she had learned how to play it.

Ellie sat back down and positioned herself in the comfortable ease she remembered. Her fingers found the chords and checked if they were in tune.

Dina, legs pulled beneath her, watched as Ellie strummed out the first chords to the Oasis song she knew she loved so much. She watched her thumb and her fingers skim across the chords, making them dance with her touch, parting her lips softly as she began singing. Ellie wasn’t a great singer, she wasn’t particularly talented, but damn could she hold a tune.

“ _ Cause maybe, _ ” Ellie sang, shooting a small smile at Dina “ _ you’re gonna be the one that saves me. _ ”

She tried to give weight to the words. Ellie wanted Dina to feel them and understand them, understand that she was trying so desperately to tell her all she couldn’t, had the music not been there. Tell her how she had always felt when she saw her with Jesse, how relieved she was when they would announce their breakups and how much it hurt when they got back together. Told her how thrilling it was to be looked at by her, to be touched by her; to be with her. Dina was watching her strum the chords, Ellie’s hands barely lifting when she shifted chords, eyes travelling the line of the curve of Ellie’s slim fingers.

“ _ Cause after all, _ ” Dina looked up this time, brown meeting green and thus creating a forest in which they lost themselves in. “ _ You’re my wonderwall. _ ”

She strummed out the last few chords and set the guitar back to rest against the wall near her bed. Dina was silent for a few seconds, looking up at Ellie through her eyelashes and a small smile on her lips. 

“I love it when you play guitar,” Dina said, bringing her knees up and hugging them to her chest. “I wish you played it more often.”   
“I do play it, I’m just busy with school and rugby sometimes, but I practice all the time.”

“I meant I wish you played it more often for me,” Dina rephrased. Ellie’s heart flipped at the idea of her and Dina sitting somewhere, anywhere, Dina’s head resting on her lap while Ellie strummed the guitar for her and dedicated her songs. She even let her mind wander as far as writing her one. “I hadn’t had the opportunity until now.”

Dina bit her lip. “Did you play guitar for Cat?”

“No,” Ellie said quickly, recalling how the few so-called dates she and Cat had been on had always exclusively been at restaurants or fast foods or Cat’s place. Ellie’s house was off-limits. Cat had argued with her about it, but Ellie didn’t like the idea of people going to her house; or maybe she just didn’t like the idea of Cat going to her house.

“Can I ask you something?” Ellie said, voice a little over a whisper.

“I don’t know, can you?”

“How long have you liked me for?”

Dina rested her cheek on her knee. “Exactly? Like…” she pondered, eyes gazing up at the ceiling, “three and a half years.”

Ellie choked on air. “What?”

Dina smiled sheepishly.

“You’ve liked me since we first met?” Ellie stared at her dumbfounded, a brief memory of the first time she had met Dina flashing to the forefront of her mind.

“I didn’t know if I liked you then, but I did find you super cute,” Dina shrugged, biting her lower lip and looking down.

“Why didn’t you ask me out earlier?”

Dina let out a small laugh, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, babe, but you can not for the life of you catch a fucking hint when someone is flirting. It took me three and a half years and I still had to tell you to your face for you to get it.”

Ellie’s mind seemed to have focused on one single word of that entire sentence. “Babe?”

Dina turned red and her eyes widened. “Oh, shit,” she looked away, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Fuck. I’m sorry, it slipped out, I didn’t mean to-”

“Dina, chill,” Ellie said, reaching out to take her hand in hers. “I like it.”

Dina smiled shyly at the ground. Ellie returned the smile and then stretched.

“Now that we’re dating, we should at least have pet names, don’t you think?”

Dina’s eyebrows hit the ceiling. Ellie had been surprising her all night and just when she thought she had reached her peak, she’d say or do something that would surprise Dina even more. “We’re dating?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ellie said, bolder in those few seconds than she had ever been her whole life. “If you want to, that is.”

“Yeah,” Dina smiled, grinning ear to ear. “I want to.”

Her eyes fell to Ellie’s lips and she leaned forward. Ellie followed suit and heard Dina draw breath when she rested a hand on her knee. Dina wet her lips with her tongue as their noses brushed together. The house was deafeningly quiet and the girls’ now-heavy breathing was so loud. Ellie’s heart was pounding loudly against her ribcage, eyes darting from Dina’s lips to her eyes, anticipation killing her softly, now only a few millimeters away from kissing her. “Did you finally make your mind up about the kissing?” She whispered.

Dina shook her head and exhaled softly out of her nose, “Shut the fuck up.”

Cupping the back of Ellie’s neck, Dina put her lips to Ellie’s. Ellie, head spinning, barely kept up with Dina’s lips, soft as they moved against her own. Ellie hadn’t kissed anyone in a while, but she didn’t recall it being this breathtaking. Maybe it was just Dina’s effect on her, intoxicating her to her very core. Ellie breathed Dina in, the smell of her shampoo engulfing her nose, as she tilted her head once she felt Dina’s tongue swipe her bottom lip, letting their tongues melt with one another. The fireworks setting off in her stomach were loud and they echoed in her ears. Ellie wanted to kiss Dina forever, learn the curve of her lip with her tongue as they kissed and taste her until she could no longer taste anything else.

They soon pulled away to catch their breath and leant their foreheads against one another’s. Dina chuckled softly, cupping both of Ellie’s cheeks while the other girl rested her hands on Dina’s thighs.

Dina sighed and bit her lip. “I’ve been wanting to do that for-”

“Gonna go out on a limb and say three and a half years?”

Dina laughed and kissed Ellie again.

Ellie grinned, an ear splitting grin that hurt her cheeks. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> *taps mic* I’d just like to say that after a long time spent on research, i can now confirm that no one in the upcoming tlou tv show is allowed to play dina if it’s not cascina caradonna thank you and goodnight
> 
> am i incapable of writing smut? yes absolutely. am i still gonna try and writing a third part with just smut? yes absolutely.


End file.
